The connection between T2D and earlier brain dysfunction has been concretely defined in the last few years. For this reason, the study published in the journal Diabetes Care shows that intranasal insulin can help improve cognitive function in patients with T2D.

Diabetes has been shown to accelerate brain aging. The use of an intranasal insulin reaches the membranes that impact the brain. In the brain, insulin helps to regulates vascular functions, including insulin signaling.

By stimulating these insulin receptors in the brain, neurons transport more effectively through the blood-brain barrier. In turn, this is shown to improve cognitive functions.

The intranasal insulin is delivered directly to the brain, bypassing the blood-brain barrier. The cognitive benefits are measured within minutes after administration.

In this study, 15 people with T2D and 14 healthy adults were observed. The average age of participants was 62 years old. Participants were given a single 40-unit dose of insulin or saline on 2 different days.

“We observed in both the healthy subjects and the patients with diabetes that there was an improvement in both verbal learning and visual-spatial learning and memory after they received the insulin,” explains a lead researcher. These improvements were dependent on the brain’s vascular function.

The results of this pilot study echo truth in the adage use it or lose it. If exciting the mental faculties of a person with T2D can be done by intranasal insulin and the same effect can be observed in healthy, non-diabetics people who sniff some saline, maybe there’s a market for Simply Saline?